Lost or misdirected cargo in general, and luggage in particular, is a considerable impediment for the aviation industry and gives rise to undesirable costs in terms of reputational damage, as well as fiscal costs associated with returning the cargo to the intended owner. One problem that can cause improper routing of cargo is an aircraft delay on a first leg of a passenger's journey causing connecting flights to be missed or the passenger to change his or her travel plans. Cargo may not be routed in such situations in a manner conforming with the consequences of such changes and/or delays. Cargo handling can be improved by reducing the number of misplaced cargo items.
Moreover, standard handling of cargo is a time-consuming process if the individual cargo items that need to be identified are located inside of a closed container. Identifying such items may include partially or completely unloading a container suspected to hold the item, or a number of containers if it is not known which container on an arriving aircraft holds the cargo item in question, and then individually comparing IDs associated with the cargo items with the known ID of the cargo item to be located. Because these IDs are often in the form of numerical sequences, such comparisons are difficult and, if done reliably, are also time consuming.
What is needed are improved systems and methods for managing information flow when handling cargo.